The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-05-03
THE PRESIDENTS MAIL.
Letters from All Sorts OF Applicants
for Pension or Pince-Episttos oil
the Children.

average of from 100 to 100 letters
lay from persons whose claims for pom
,lons are pending before the depart
ment. These people address the chict
executive in belief probably. that tho
pension Office is next door to the white
house, and that theirs is the only letter
he may receive in II week.
About ono half of these letters are
sent to Mrs. Cleveland. The writer's
in such cases arG usually tho wives or
daughters OF thc petitioners. Some OF
them bcstow upon Mrs. Cleveland such
titles rs Her Mejesty," Empress
aud other appelations OF ROYALTY.
There are few OF The letters that do not
contain some touches Of human nature.
They ara evidently wriitoa in the sin
cerc belief that Mrs. Cleveland WIN as
sist them II her s,mp ethics can only DO
aroused. w tn this object in viuw
great mass OF details is set forth in the
communication, which, together with
obscure chirography and bad spelling.
makes its understanding n matter of no
uncomfortable time and labor.
1t may b. said in this connection that
neither the president nor Mrs. Ncvc-
land IS even aware of the existence OF
these letters. They are opened By an
unromantic and unsentimcntal clerk ut
the executive mansion, from whose
hands they fall into the waste BASKET
aud are never heard of again.
The women who address, Mrs. Clcvc-
land furnish her with sug0cS-
tons ~ to the better mcthof of
presenting the r claim to the president.
One OF the plans which perusrl Of tho
the letters show that all women hold in
common is for her to wait until Mr..
Cleveland has had his supper and then,
when he is enjoying quiet smoke in the
parlor Is c) bring the matter to his at
tcntion Many Of them tell her that
this is the hour OF the day when II man
is most anicnable to argument, and
that they (the wr icrs) prefer this As the
safest time for presenting Their own
requests.
The appl cants for pensions who
write to the pres dent are, as has been
said, old soldiers, who. like the
feminine part of the fsshily,
are sadly deficient in the principles of
even an elementary education. They
write. too, in u more vigorous style
than their helpmaets, and their Ian
guage is sometimes Of so robust y ma
'ure that it frequently provokes smile.
For example. IN Illinois man who ad-
dresses the president. in letter re.
ceived to-day says:
The pension officials tell me to get
corroborative evidence from some OF
my comrades. want to tell you that
it is hell OF Il matter to get evidence
from men who 70 into an action aud
never come ont again" and then ne
continues by saying that his company
went into the Wilderness hundred
strong and ut the end OF the seven days
fight. there w-re but nine of tho NAM
Der who were left to tell the tale.
Sometimes the letters ae written by
children. who begin in this fashion,:
DEAR Mn. PRESIDENT: | am a lit
tie girl only 10 wears of age. My papa
does not know am writing this let.
ter. ii he d d he would not permit ii.
Then follows pathetic tale OF want
and misery. touching enough in its sim
loubly so by the fact of the writer's
youth and innocence.
Several months ago one OF these
touching missives CHANGED to reach the
presidents eve. Its simple pleading
touched sympathetic cord in the pres
ident's heart. The little mss begged
the retention of her father. Il republic
can, on the board OF medical examiners
in the New England town in which
their home was located. She said he
was very old and ding of IN incurable
disease. The position paid him n sala-
ny OF about 81, 200 year, and in view
Oh the fact that he could no longer prac-
ticc his profession the foregoing sum
was their only source of income, The
letter concluded naively in these words.
Papa must not know about this. 1t
must be secret between you and me.
Ifyou decide 10 keep him mark an y
on the back OF the enclosed postal-card
and ihonI II know that you are GO
ing to grant NV wish. "
The pres dent sent the letter and in
closure to Comm ssioner OF Pensions
Black. with this Endorsement:
If there are no charges against the
examiner in question you will oGlge
inc by retaining him in his present
position.
Gen. Black investigated the matter.
and found that the exam ner vas not
AN oil man. but, on the contrary, a
lu,ty young fellow scarcely 80 wears of
age, and that so far from having "a
little girl Only 10 years of age" he
was not even married.
The telegraph after this couldn't car